by Lou Grimes
“Good night, Firefly,” she replied back.
The drive back to her house was miserable. It seemed to take a million years when, before, it had only taken about thirty minutes. She rolled down her window so the frigid air circulating throughout the vehicle would keep her awake, and Shinedown’s “State of My Head” blasted, sending her into battle. A battle against the Sandman. A task that proved almost impossible.
Her mother was curled up on the couch in the living room sleeping. She was waiting for Louvette.
She woke up as Louvette tried to sneak in. Regardless of being a Lupine, her mother would always tell when Louvette showed up. She seemed to have a built-in radar that came standard when women turned into mothers.
“Hey, sweetie. Did you have a fun weekend with Cara?” her mother asked.
“Yes, Mom. I did,” Louvette gave the standard answer in the hopes that she could go to sleep faster.
“That’s great, honey,” her mother said in the same way as any doting mother would.
“Did you?” Louvette asked, though she didn’t want to. The question was purely for the sake of her mother.
“Yeah, but I didn’t do anything real fun. Thomas ended up having to work all weekend,” her mother informed her. Louvette resisted the compulsion to scoff at more of Hollows’s lies.
“I’m sorry. He’s a lawyer,” she said, awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. She was the nasty witch in this scenario. Better a nasty witch than the one who was kind up until they incinerated her mother into the ground. No warning, no nothing.
“I’m sure you’re right,” her mother started to mumble. She was slipping back to sleep.
“I’ll talk to you in the morning. I love you, Mom. Goodnight.” She didn’t need her true feelings to show through, and no one knew her quite like her mother even though she had chosen not to share her Lupine nature yet.
“Love you. Night,” her mother muttered, barely coherent.
Louvette dragged herself upstairs, and then went to bed. She was a log falling on the forest floor below when her head hit that pillow. It was fast and hard.
Chapter 11
On Monday, Louvette had to go train, though the lack of proper rest had left her a little threadbare. She had stumbled to get dressed.
There were no cars in the parking lot. All the people that normally packed the school were at home enjoying their break and their families. The emptiness of the school made her start to regret her choice to learn self-defense through the pack soldier career.
Louvette began to miss Cara. She had become her ray of sunshine in the mornings, keeping her in a better mood, but now there was no light to keep the darkness at bay. Her darkness was the gym, and she had to face it how Cara would, having an enduring happiness knowing she was improving her ability to defend herself.
Louvette showed up at the door of the gym for the third time with a more positive attitude. She had been beaten each of the first two times for different reasons that were all her fault. The first time had been loss of control. The second had been her wolf and her getting into a pissing match right before training started.
Today would be different. Louvette needed her wolf in the fight. Without that dark part of her, she would lose again. This whole time she had thought of her wolf as something else inside her, such as a separate entity, but she was just now getting how wrong she was. Louvette and her wolf were one and the same.
Walking through the doors was a challenge in itself. Louvette wasn’t sure how well it would go. but she had to find out what worked for her.
Matt glanced at her as he stretched off to the side of the ring, and then his eyes dropped to the floor. Louvette’s eyes caught the odd movement. They narrowed. Something was about to happen that probably wouldn’t be grand in the whole scheme of things.
“Ready to spar, Blackwood?” the instructor asked.
“No warmup?” she questioned back.
Matt was warming up right in front of her. They were ready to be rid of her. She had worn out her welcome the first day she walked through those doors. The plan had been to have her to quit the first day, but they had underestimated her. What they had no clue about was that Louvette was going to prove to them she didn’t need to warm up to whoop him like he deserved.
“No warmup,” the man echoed as cold shouldered as Louvette had seen from anyone.
Louvette and Matt met in the ring for a third time. Matt’s face was the picture of pure determination. Hers was more anticipation than anything.
Instead of calling the wolf as if it was a dog and not a part of her soul, she readied her soul. Senses intensified until she could hear Matt’s heartbeat. Her change in sight told her he needed to shave his five o’clock shadow.
The orders he was issued must have been to aggressively win because he attacked first. He sent a few punches, warming up offensive testers for him and defense testers for her.
Those were not genuine punches, though. The first real one came after a half punch she saw coming, and then deflected. His left arm came in for a south paw, nearly knocking her out.
Staggering back, her chin bone bounced from the impact. Her skull protested from the abuse as a headache developed.
The second time Matt came at her, Louvette was prepared. She deflected the first punch to the face. Matt followed through with a kick to her knee. While she was guarding her knees, she had left her ribs exposed. One aching rib punch later, he had her gasping for air as her side ached.
Matt went for her a third time; he threw his fist into her ear. Thankfully, the punch only clipped it. Her ear throbbed painfully. The next one got her kidney from a back punch while she was trying to dodge away.
A need to curl up in a ball nearly took over her body. Her head was only half in the fight from the physical pain. A high kick to the head sent her to the ground. Louvette paused for a hair of second, thinking Matt would let her back up as he had done before. She needed to catch her breath. Another kick to her ribs proved that thought false. Louvette cried out.
When he went to kick again, Louvette grabbed his leg and pulled it out from underneath him. Matt landed on the floor beside her. Louvette rolled up and then jumped on top of him. She beat his face for a few wild angry punches, stopping after Matt’s head hit the dirt.
Louvette quit right before he lost consciousness.
“Take him to be Accelerated,” the man called. Louvette’s adrenaline started dipping enough to regard her surroundings. The desire to sit down to catch her breath was the first actual thought she had, but the fact that she was in a gym packed with other Lupine who were staring at her as she stood over Matt’s prone body kept her from showing how worn out she was. Satisfaction rose in her that it wasn’t her this time.
“You go, too,” the man added. Louvette just stared at him as if she hadn’t heard him or as if he was crazy.
“I don’t want it,” Louvette said. There were many reasons she turned down the offer to be Accelerated. The blaring main reason was it was one of the most painful experiences she had undergone. This had the sensation like she was shifting backwards, which was wrong and against her nature as a Lupine.
“Did I ask if you wanted it? What if someone attacked you after you left here today and you lost because you were too stubborn to take your medicine?” the man demanded, scorning her.
“You would have had a burden removed from your class,” Louvette answered smartly. Her eyebrow cocked, displaying every bit of sass in her body.
“The Whitecreeks would not be pleased,” he explained. Most of the Whitecreeks might care, but not Arsen’s mother, Louvette thought.
“Neither would I at losing a promising student. My name is Franco Rivers, but everyone just calls me Frank,” the man added. Tears threatened to roll down Louvette’s cheeks. She wanted to hug him, but thought better of it. There had been thousands of students walk through that door and none of them had probably ever hugged this man. Louvette wondered if his own son would.
Louvette decided it wasn’t worth th
e fight and to a certain degree he was right. She did as he told her, only stopping to help carry Matt off to the nurse’s office.
That was how she ended up sitting beside an unconscious Matt. They were waiting. She was praying this time her Acceleration wouldn’t be as terrible as the first time since she was nowhere close to the condition she had been in the first time she had come.
The door creaked open. The nurse never even paused at the sight of the two bloodied students.
“Back again, I see,” she said to the conscious member in the room. The nurse hadn’t spared her a glance when she entered the room. She went straight for the cabinets.
“Yes,” Louvette answered.
“At least, you brought someone with you this time,” the nurse commented, smirking as she nodded her head in Matt’s general direction.
“Yeah, at least there’s that,” Louvette laughed.
The nurse grabbed the bottle.
“Close your eyes,” she said quietly. Louvette released a reluctant sigh, but did as she was instructed.
The bottle hissed like a snake ready to strike her unsuspecting face. There were a couple more hisses as the nurse sprayed the bleeding parts of Louvette’s body.
Pain flooded her. Not to the degree of the first time because she wasn’t writhing on the floor this time. Louvette was able to witness Matt get the same treatment after the nurse rolled him over.
A couple seconds after he was Accelerated, Matt’s groans began.
“I’ll be back to check on you two,” the nurse said before leaving.
“Okay,” Louvette said through gritted teeth. Her jaw ached from the pressure of it.
Matt started to jerk. The groans soon turned to crying out. Louvette’s head hurt enough from the damage it had received today, so she lost her patience really quick. Once his crying turned to yells, Louvette had had enough.
Standing up, she hobbled over to sit beside his chair. The worst she would get would be a scratch, so she wasn’t too worried about him attacking her. No one could focus on attacking someone with the amount of pain he was in. Louvette grabbed his hand hard, and then placed her palm on his forehead in a stern manner.
The gate to his mind was made of all different kinds of crystallites and lava rocks. A thousand years of erosion had created a natural chunky gate.
Louvette got into his mind to calm him enough to stop the yelling. She only put the suggestion in there. It was crossing lines to put more than a suggestion there on her friends. Matt was only doing what he’d been told to do by Frank, and even, in a roundabout sort of way, by her. She had needed to learn.
There was no reason to not listen to her suggestion of relaxing, so his yelling quieted before long. His writhing turned to spasms and twitches. Louvette let her hand drop from his forehead as she sank into the chair. Upon trying to free her other hand, she found that she couldn’t. His grip was a death grip. Clueless as to what to do next, Louvette crossed her legs and attempted to relax.
Resting proved impossible because her muscles would spasm as a side effect of the Accelerator. Her body twitched restlessly. Her finger tapped against the chair. Like a clock running out of precious time, it picked up speed when her body didn’t relax.
After some time, the Accelerator had done most of its job when his hand fell off of hers. Louvette took this opportunity to attempt to exit.
“Louvette?” he asked in a scratchy voice just as she had reached the door. She stopped, choosing not to stare back at him.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Taking this instant to turn toward him, she caught him staring at the ground for a second. His sad, guilt-ridden eyes flicked up to meet hers.
“Don’t be. I know you were ordered to do it,” Louvette submitted. The betrayal of a friend had hurt the first day, but at this point it didn’t anymore.
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have followed orders. I’m ashamed that I did,” he lamented.
“Following orders seems to be instilled in everyone here at birth, so I’m not angry that you’re doing what you’ve been taught all your life,” Louvette comforted.
“Yeah, but still doesn’t make what I did right,” Matt countered.
“Don’t worry about it,” Louvette said.
“Hey, we are having a party at my house if you and Arsen want to come this Friday. I already told him about it,” Matt said while she was turning to leave for the second time. She was shocked.
This was a peace offering between them, and meant he wanted to be her friend again. The Louvette before would have told him that was never going to happen, but this Louvette needed all the genuine friends she could get.
Her thoughts went back to his sister Emily and the glitter of it all rubbed off in no time.
“Will your sister be there?” Louvette wondered.
“Yeah, but I’ll make sure she stays off your back,” Matt promised.
“Sounds like fun. We’ll be there then unless Arsen is too busy,” Louvette said.
“See you, then. Good job today,” he replied.
“Thanks,” she said, flattered.
Louvette left finally. The second she got to the car, she just sat there for a minute, unsure of what to make of the events of today. The desire to talk to someone about it overtook her entire being, and for that she had only one person in mind. It wasn’t her mother or Cara. Louvette checked her phone to find a text from that same person.
Arsen: How did practice go?
Louvette: Can I tell you in person?
Arsen: I don’t think I can. My father would be pissed if I left right now.
Louvette: Are you at your parents’ house?
Arsen: Yes.
Louvette turned on her car as the seed of a plan started growing in her mind. The first destination was her house for a much-needed shower. The ride was quick as her mind floated around in the clouds.
***
Later that day after her shower, Louvette crept up the Whitecreeks’ driveway in her car. There wasn’t a car in the driveway, so it made the execution of Louvette’s plan easier. When she neared the garage doors, she put her car in park. Louvette had based her location off of where Arsen’s father’s study was because from the way Arsen talked, that was where they worked.
Louvette: I need to talk to you now. Go outside so I can call you.
There was some time gone and never to be recovered before Louvette got a response. It was long enough that she worried he didn’t have his phone, and coming here had been for nothing.
Arsen: I’m heading outside now.
A minute later her phone started ringing. Louvette answered it without checking, knowing the caller. She didn’t want to take her eyes off the house’s entrances. Opening her door, she prepared to step out.
The door next to the garage opened. Arsen walked out. He frowned and held the phone up in the air out of confusion. Louvette jumped out of her car.
“Get in,” she demanded, pushing Arsen into the car. Snagging Arsen’s phone before she got him into the car, she put it on a brick nearby.
“Are you about to tell me that you changed in front of a reporter or a camera?” Arsen interrogated as he got in the car. Louvette ran around the car, keeping her grin smothered enough that he didn’t notice until they were gone.
Louvette floored the car, and tore out of the Whitecreeks’ driveway.
“Now please tell me what the hell is going on?” Arsen demanded.
Louvette didn’t say anything for a while, wanting to gain as much distance as possible between them and the house.
“I need to talk to you,” she offered, simply not intending to explain until they had reached the location.
“Louvette Nadine Blackwood, what did you do?” he repeated.
“Nothing. How did you find out my middle name?” she asked, changing the subject with eyes as round as a doe’s. They hadn’t made it to the edge of town yet, but when they did, she was going to come clean on her deviant plan.
“I
snuck past the front desk and read your file. You’ve got a bit of a record. I should have suspected that you were capable of kidnapping,” Arsen flirted.
“I’m capable of anything,” Louvette warned, grinning that was more closer to a wolf baring their teeth.
“I don’t have a strong enough case of Stockholm syndrome for me to not wonder why we are leaving town?” he questioned.
Louvette was mute until they went past a city sign. She could feel him attempting to stare into the crooks in her soul to learn all her deepest and darkest secrets.
“I’m kidnapping you,” Louvette explained.
“Seriously?” he asked.
“Yes,” Louvette answered. He started chuckling at first.
“I can’t decide if I think you kidnapping me is hot or crazy,” he admitted, smirking. Louvette’s smile was soft in response to Arsen.
“Said the tracker-implanting boyfriend. I was thinking more along the lines of amazing, or lifesaving, even,” Louvette teased.
“Quinn can’t ever keep his mouth shut, I’m going to kill him,” Arsen said.
“Don’t be hard on him. I can be very persuasive,” Louvette said. Arsen had no idea how on the wolf snout Louvette’s words were.
“I’m starting to get that. You almost went rogue in front of me, I didn’t intend to lose you. I’ve decided. It’s a bit of both,” he announced as he relaxed back into the seat.
“I’ll take what I can get,” she gave in.
“Am I allowed to know where we are going?” Arsen wondered.
“I’ll give you three guesses,” Louvette answered. He appeared thoughtful for a second as he glanced back toward the direction of Whitefish.
“Kalispell?” he asked.
“No, next guess” she replied.
“Give me a hint,” Arsen said.
“Fine. The destination is quick enough that neither of us will land in actual trouble and it will be awhile before anyone finds us. Figured we could eat dinner, and then head back,” Louvette explained.
“I won’t get in trouble, but I will be the epitome of disappointment,” Arsen said.
“Want me to turn around?” she asked. She met his eyes across the car.